Rack for agitating movement and inclination of bottles of champagne

ABSTRACT

The present invention relates to a rack on which bottled of sparkling wine are supported, during the manufacture by the champagne process, and which is provided with means for simultaneously rotating all the bottles about their longitudinal axis and similar means for simultaneously varying the angle of inclination of all the bottles to the vertical. The purposes of this to ensure that any sediment in the wine collects in the neck of the bottles on the cork.

United States Patent Paniez [451 Aug. 8, 1972 [54] RAClfgifilGlTATlNGMOVEMENT 2,056,014 9/1936 Moore et a1. ..259/54 AND ATION OF BOTTLES FCHAMPAGNE 0 FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS [72] Inventor: JeamMarieJoseph Mel 13 112,414 4/1876 France "99/2771 A enue dsEtflingen, France..99/277-1 (Mame) France Pn'mary Examiner-Leon G. Machlin [22] Filed:Dec. 30, 1970 Attorney-Parrnelee, Utzler & Welsh [2i] Appl. No.: 102,67757] ABSTRACT The present invention relates to a rack on which botlifl3:38P:3:JJ3:3::3J:J:3::3:JJJJJIJJJJJJJJJJ???YY53132fledofsparklingwimaresuppoflewflngrhe 58 Field of Search ....99/277.2277.1 277- 259/57 ficme P champag. Pmcess, and whlch 259/56 21077 1vided with means for simultaneously rotating all the 1 bottles abouttheir longitudinal axis and similar means for simultaneously varying theangle of inclination of all the bottles to the vertical. The purposes ofthis to [56] References Cited ensure that any sediment in the winecollects in the UNITED STATES PATENTS neck of the bottles on the cork.

3,533,602 10/1970 Heck et al .99/277.2 X 12 Claim, 18 Drawing FiguresPATENTEDAuc 81972 3 682 088 sum 1 or 7 PATENTEUMIB 8 I972 SHEET 2 0F 7RACK FOR AGITATING MOVEMENT AND INCLINATION OF BOTTLES OF CHAMPAGNE Thepresent invention relates to a bottle supporting rack on which bottlesof champagne are supported during the manufacturing process.

As a preamble, a brief description will be given of part of themanufacture of champagne, namely the operation of moving the bottles.

The bottles are first placed with the neck downwards on racks such thatthey are inclined at approximately left, this operation beingfacilitated by the provision of a reference mark in white paint on thebottom of each bottle. The sediment is thus gradually detached andcollects in the neck of the bottle. At the end of the operation, whichmay take from 6 weeks to 3 months the bottle will be vertical with neckdownwards. A good workman will move some 30,000 bottles per day.

The present invention has the aim of reducing the bottle moving time andcontrolling the inclination of the bottles, which is achieved with theaid of a bottle moving rack provided with two manual controls, one forrotating the bottles and the other for varying the inclination of thebottles, this rack being able to hold from 10 to 100 bottles or more.Consequently, a very appreciable saving in time is achieved because asingle workman can, by simply turning a handwheel, move for example 100bottles instead of a single bottle as is the case when this work is doneunder present conditions.

This rack is composed of two frames movable parallel in the downward orupward direction. The fixed front frame is provided with two frontpivots of each support for containers matching the shape of the neck ofthe bottle. The movable rear frame is provided with two rear pivots ofthe container support; the object of this frame is to increase theinclination of the bottle progressively from 45 until it stands entirelyon its tip. This movement allows any sediment in the wine to drop on tothe cork; this sediment will be removed in the operation of extractingthe cork coated with deposit.

This explanation relates essentially to the desired inclination of thebottles. It will now be explained how the moving of the bottles iseffected.

This is done with the aid of a small 45 helical gear fixed on a shaftpassing through the entire width of the rack. Each container support isformed in one piece with four pivots and two forks, which receive theprimary shaft, the small 45 helical gears of which are mounted andcottered on said shaft in each required position and transmit the rotarymovement to the large helical gears mounted on the shafts of the bottlecontainers.

In order to reduce the coefficient of friction, two nylon rings areprovided in the container support.

Each primary shaft is provided at one end, either on the right or on theleft, with a double sprocket wheel. All the sprocket wheels areconnected together by Y chains.

An operating handwheel is fixed on one of these primary shafts, at theend of the rack.

The following description and the accompanying drawings will permiteasier understanding of the practical embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 1 is a rear view of the rack, in which the two operatinghandwheels, the helical gears, and the sprocket wheels equipped withtheir chains can be distinguished.

FIG. 2 is an exploded view showing the principle of the mechanismcontrolling the inclination of the bottles;

FIG. 3 is a top view and FIG. 4 a front view of an articulation forkprovided with a smooth hole;

FIG. 5 is a front view of an articulation fork provided with a tappedhole;

FIG. 6 is a front view of an upright of a frame of the rack;

FIG. 7 is a side view of the rack in the direction of the arrow VII inFIG. 18, in which the trumpet-shaped bottle containers and theirsupports, the gears, the sprocket wheels, and the two frames can bedistinguished;

FIG. 8 is a side view and FIG. 9 an end view of a trumpet-shapedcontainer;

FIG. 10 is a top view and FIG. 11 a side view of a container support;

FIG. 12 is a front view and FIG. 13 a side view of a low frictionbearing ring insetted in the hole in a container support:

FIG. 14 is a front view and FIG. 15 is a side view of a helical gear:

FIG. 16 is a front view and FIG. 17 a side view of a sprocket wheel;

FIG. 18 shows in the form of a side view, partly cut away, the principleof controlling the movement agitating the bottles.

As shown in the drawings, the rack consists of a front and rear frame ofeach comprising an upper and a lower channel section 1 receiving aseries of uprights 3 of the frame, which are made of a mouldablematerial. Holes 2 in the sections 1 are placed opposite holes 5 in theuprights 3 (FIG. 2) and the two are connected by a countersunk screw 6locked by its nut 7. Holes 4 in the uprights 3 receive pivots pins 27 ofsupports 23 for trumpet-shaped containers 18 for supporting the bottles,said containers 18 being moulded in plastics material. Two flat bars 8are welded at one end on each upper section 1 and are pierced with holes9. As shown in FIGS. 2, 3 and 4, the holes 9 in bars 8 secured to theleft hand, front frame receive pivot pins 12 of an upper bushing 10having a smooth walled transverse central aperture 15. The holes 9 inthe bars 8 secured to the right hand rear frame receive the pivot pins12 of a lower bushing 1 1 having a square pitch screw-threaded aperture.The holes in the parts 10 and 11 receive a 1 square-threaded adjustingscrew 16, a smooth portion pivoting the supports 23 connectedtherebetween (F IG. 7). A shaft 19, which forms part of eachtrumpetshaped container 18, has a square end 20 to which a 45 helicaldrive gear 33 is mounted being held in place by way of a pin passingthrough a cotter hole 22. These containers 18 are each rotatably mountedin a support 23, bevels 26 on the lower shoulder of the container 18 andthe neck of the support 23 forming a bearing surface.

fixed on the bottle cork, thus making it possible for the containers toreceive bottles sealed in different ways, namely by means of metal capsor by means of corks provided with hooks. The support 23, is providedwith a bore 24 and with four pivot pins 27 which are received in theholes 4 in the uprights 3, is formed with a fork 28, the arms of whichare provided with holes 29 to receive a shaft 38, which in turn carriesa small helical drive gear 30. The bore 24 in each support 23 isprovided with two nylon bearing rings 25, thus contributing towardsreducing the friction of the shaft 19 of the container 18 which rotatesin the support 23. Each of the gears 30, has a bore at 31, and ispierced with a cotter hole 32. A number of shafts 38 are providedextending across the rear frame of the rack and each passing through theholes 29 of a series of supports 23 and each being secured to a seriesof the gears 30 associated with each of the supports 23. Each of thegears 30 meshes with a gear 33 (FIGS. 14 and such that rotation of theshaft 38 causes all the containers 18 in each of the rows to rotate.

Each shaft 38 itself carries a double sprocket wheel 34 atone end. Thesesprocket wheels, which have a bore 35, are connected together by chains36 and enable a rotational movement to be transmitted to all the shafts38, which in turn drive the trumpet-shaped containers, this movementoriginating from a handwheel 37 keyed at 32 on one of the shafts 38. Byturning handwheel 37 therefore, each of the bottles held in thecontainer 18 is caused to rotate about its longitudinal axis, whilerotation of the handwheel 17 causes the angle of each of the bottles tothe vertical to be altered.

By means of this system regular agitating movement of all the bottlesplaced on the rack is achieved; variation of the inclination is alsoobtained under the same conditions.

To sum up, the advantages mentioned at the beginning of this text areprincipally much higher output, because hundreds of bottles can now bemanipulated simultaneously, and equally accurate work to that whichhitherto was performed manually. Moreover, the fact that this rack ismade of plastics material makes it practically free from wear and itrequires no maintenance.

It is obvious that various modifications could be 7 made to thisinvention; for example, the helical gears 30, 33 could be replaced byangle gears. Automation could be achieved by replacing the handwheels 17and 37 by electric drive motors which can be operatedautomatically by atime switch if desired.

l l I? ottle supporting rack comprising a front and rear vertical frame,a plurality of containers for saidbottles each rotatably mounted in asupport member, the support members being pivotally mounted acrossbetween said front and rear frames, means for imparting relativevertical movement to said frames. and means for simultaneously rotatingall of said containers relative to their support members.

2. A bottle supporting rack as claimed in claim 1 wherein each of saidcontainers comprises a trumpetshapedfront portion adapted to fit over abottle neck and a rear shaft portion to the free end of which is secureda drive gear, wherein a horizontal drive shaft extends along a row ofsaid containers and is provided with transmission gears each of whichmeshes with one of said drive gears.

3. A bottle supporting rack as claimed in claim 2 wherein a series ofsaid horizontal drive shafts is provided, each extending along a row ofsaid containers, each of said drive shafts being interconnected by adriving chain, means being provided to rotate one of drive shafts.

4. A bottle supporting rack as claimed in claim 1 wherein each of saidsupport members is formed with laterally extending pivotpins at thefront and rear ends thereof, said pins being received in aperturesformed in the upright members of said front and rear frames.

5. A bottle supporting rack as claimed in claim 4 wherein each of saidsupport members is formed with a central bore in which said container isrotatably mounted, bearing rings of low friction material being providedin said bore.

6. A bottle supporting rack as claimed in claim 2 wherein said driveshaft is rotatably mounted on arms formed on said support members.

7. A bottle supporting rack as claimed in claim 1 wherein anupper'bushing member provided with a smooth bore is pivotallymounted tothe upper end of said front frame, and a lower bushing member providedwith a threaded bore is pivotally mounted to the upper end of said rearframe, wherein a drive' screw is rotatably mounted in the bore of saidupper bushing member and secured against axial movement relative theretoand is threadedly engaged in the lower bushing member.

8. A bottle supporting rack as claimed in claim 1 wherein each of saidcontainers is provided with apertures which enable the contents of thebottles to be seen.

9. A'bottle supporting rack as claimed in claim 8 wherein said.apertures are arranged to allow the passage of any hooks or wiressecured'to the cork of a bottle.

10. A bottle supporting rack as claimed in claim 3 wherein a drive motoris provided to rotate said drive shaft.

11. A bottle supporting rack as claimed in claim 10 wherein a timeswitch is provided to automatically operate said drive motor at apre-determined time.

' 12.'A bottle supporting rack as claimed in claim 7 wherein a drivemotor is provided to rotate said drive screw.

1. A bottle supporting rack comprising a front and rear vertical frame,a plurality of containers for said bottles each rotatably mounted in asupport member, the support members being pivotally mounted acrossbetween said front and rear frames, means for imparting relativevertical movement to said frames and means for simultaneously rotatingall of said containers relative to their support members.
 2. A bottlesupporting rack as claimed in claim 1 wherein each of said containerscomprises a trumpet-shaped front portion adapted to fit over a bottleneck and a rear shaft portion to the free end of which is secured adrive gear, wherein a horizontal drive shaft extends along a row of saidcontainers and is provided with transmission gears each of which mesheswith one of said drive gears.
 3. A bottle supporting rack as claimed inclaim 2 wherein a series of said horizontal drive shafts is provided,each extending along a row of said containers, each of said drive shaftsbeing interconnected by a driving chain, means being provided to rotateone of drive shafts.
 4. A bottle supporting rack as claimed in claim 1wherein each of said support members is formed with laterally extendingpivot pins at the front and rear ends thereof, said pins beinG receivedin apertures formed in the upright members of said front and rearframes.
 5. A bottle supporting rack as claimed in claim 4 wherein eachof said support members is formed with a central bore in which saidcontainer is rotatably mounted, bearing rings of low friction materialbeing provided in said bore.
 6. A bottle supporting rack as claimed inclaim 2 wherein said drive shaft is rotatably mounted on arms formed onsaid support members.
 7. A bottle supporting rack as claimed in claim 1wherein an upper bushing member provided with a smooth bore is pivotallymounted to the upper end of said front frame, and a lower bushing memberprovided with a threaded bore is pivotally mounted to the upper end ofsaid rear frame, wherein a drive screw is rotatably mounted in the boreof said upper bushing member and secured against axial movement relativethereto and is threadedly engaged in the lower bushing member.
 8. Abottle supporting rack as claimed in claim 1 wherein each of saidcontainers is provided with apertures which enable the contents of thebottles to be seen.
 9. A bottle supporting rack as claimed in claim 8wherein said apertures are arranged to allow the passage of any hooks orwires secured to the cork of a bottle.
 10. A bottle supporting rack asclaimed in claim 3 wherein a drive motor is provided to rotate saiddrive shaft.
 11. A bottle supporting rack as claimed in claim 10 whereina time switch is provided to automatically operate said drive motor at apre-determined time.
 12. A bottle supporting rack as claimed in claim 7wherein a drive motor is provided to rotate said drive screw.